I just can't help wondering, what caused the Rena to ground on the reef?
It seems preposterous that it happened at all, and equally outrageous that we haven't been hearing reasons for the grounding, being offered up for discussion.
Plenty of talk of the salvage attempts and the damage to the beaches, some on the Governments failure to have provisions in place for such an event, but next to nothing on how the grounding ever occured.
Mystifying!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
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25 comments:
Negligent Navigation.
Nothing more, nothing less.
It's probably because the matter is now sub-judice Robert, with two of the ship's officers having been charged with criminal offences. There is a number of other investigations ongoing.
Instead of watching on paddock thuggery on the telly over the weekend you would have noticed in the MSM fine print that the suggestion is that as soon as the pilotage beacon was seen on radar, a bit of left hand down on the wheel was applied. One hour later, Rena was firmly berthed. (see my blog for link)
Quintin - it can happen so easily, eh?
Hate to think what disasters await the coastline as a result of national's planned deep-sea oil rigs. Bit of negligence there and, Gulf of Mexico in our own back yard.
Brighter that future!
It probably is Inv2, but that desn't stop bloggers fom speculating and it seems to me there's benn very little, aside from the initial 'he was drunk on his birthday' jabber.
PM - there was thuggery in our paddocks? Weaning time for the dairy calves and tailing for the lambs?
Thanks for your link.
Rg, I'm pleased to see your national reference to deep sea oil prospecting - for it is a national issue - shows you understand the importance of it as a national issue. Apart from a few green sand wedges the rest of us are happy to explore the issue.
It is an ill-wind indeed that blows no good - so with the Rena in mind we will be more diligent in providing safeguards to ensure as much as humanly possible risks inherent in progress are minimised.
With the extreme view of the 'sand wedges' keeping the rest of us 'honest' I am sure the benefit to all New Zealanders will be apparent - even to the 'sand wedges'.
On the green lead hysteria on offshore oil exploration Robert, can you please tell your many avid readers, how long Oil has been extracted from off the Taranaki Coast, and just how many catastrophic oil spills there have been. You may also like to add just how much money (I apologise for using a dirty word like that on your blog) the oil industry has injected into the Taranaki Economy over the same number of years?
Fred - "we will be more diligent in providing safeguards to ensure as much as humanly possible risks inherent in progress are minimised"
This is exciting news indeed. Perhaps you could describe for me what 'we' will do, in the event of a Gulf of Mexico-type blow-out at a well head in the Great South Basin (dear to my heart and near to my beach). For example, you might describe how 'we' would get the thousands of ships to the southern ocean, in the way that GoM required, how 'we' would get the spewing well-head capped in the much deeper, much colder and much rougher waters of the Basin, and how 'we' would protect the abundant wildlife of the soutern seas, from both the gushing oil and the toxic dispersants used by 'us' whenever there is a spill. I look forward to the details of 'our' plan very much indeed, Fred.
Sthn.jeff - certainly I will, but first, just so we can be sure that we are comparing apples with apples here, can you tell me and my avid readers (of which there are legion, shy things that they are) whether the Taranaki wells are at a comparable depth to those proposed for say, the Great South Basin?
Cheers
Oh, and, Jeff, if the conditions off Taranaki are similar to those in the southern oceans (clue; Antarctica is not so very far away and there are few barriers between there and the Basin, and we have, oh, what are they called? The Roaring 40's, for example).
Robert, are you suggesting that if there was clear mitigation for the weather and depth of the proposed drilling down here you would be ok?
Define your take on 'mitigation' for me, Shane, then I'd be happy to respond.
What would be safe enough for you?
Rg, you have 'assumed' a position of knowledge, albeit future gazing. I am astounded at your clairvoyance skills, and can only hope you will apply these rare and wonderful skills to things closer to hand.
I understand that part of the early phases of exploration - deep sea or otherwise - require risk management systems to be evaluated.
Most successful ventures incur risk, it is a natural part of progress. Your green efforts are blocking progress in agricultural production, you are stifling entrepreneurism with ridiculous demands on resource management, so it is expected you will try and hobble any move to production in the resource industry.
Shane - some activities are not suitable for some environments. You've every right to light a match, but to do it in a fireworks factory, regardless of the list of rules on the wall or your rich father's ability to buy them a new factory, would be stupid. Drilling for oil in the Great South Basin would be stupid. All the precautions in the world won't necessarily stop an accidental breach of the well-head and once that happens, if you believe we have the resources to manage a big spill out there, you are dreaming. Then, we face a nightmare.
Fred - I apply common-sense and logic to situations, not clairvoyance, though truth to tell, I'm great at parties, predicting futures and am known as the Madame Sosostris of the South. But I digress.
Your claim that 'green efforts are blocking progress in agricultural production' is twaddle. Once I've watched the nes highlights, I'll return to my office and straighten out your wonky thinking.
news hightlights - Rena and so on.
Highlights - must slow down and proof-read!
Fred - what's the 'resource industry' you claim I will try to hobble?
And by 'hobble' do you mean restrain for the safety of all, as one would hobble a horse?
Here's how I see it - Rena is on the rocks, and it's doing some nasty stuff like spilling oil and depositing other nasty stuff like anti-fouling paint into the sea. It all needs to be cleaned up and that's the priority, cleaning up as quickly as possible and stopping more oil spilling. It's kinda like the dishes, if you leave them, they just get worse, so time is of the essence, unless you are the PM in which case it will need to wait until the rugby is over. Anyway, after the clean-up it's time to work out how to stop it happening again. There will be, I expect, a range of things that can, should and will be done, and some of these will include asking "how did Rena happen"? But for now - who cares, there are oiled beaches, oiled animals and toxic metals where they should not be, and wondering how they got there doesn't make them go away. My employer (an international corporate) has offered to give me and my colleagues paid leave to help with the clean-up - I think I will take them up on the offer.
Armchair Critic - yours will be comment made all the valuable then, for your on-the-spot-ness. I'm betting that while you are cleaning beaches, the subject of 'how did this come about' will be brought up, probably more than once. Will you suggest that the oil-gatherers confine their discussions to the job at hand only?It's natural to ask questions and from this distance, unable to pitch in, there's room for inquisitiveness, in my opinion.
Those of us who aren't pressed into service (and I cheer you intentions) are able to think of other things, like: will this happen off my beach? How can I do something now to lessen that likelihood of something like it, or perhaps worse, from happening down here. That's the reason I speculate and question - don't want to get caught out being reactive, rather be proactive.
If you do find yourself in the clean-up squad, I hope you'll keep us up to date with the real story.
I suppose the "how did this happen?" question will be asked. Doubtless someone much clever than me will find the answer, though my pick is that someone (or, more likely, several people) cut a corner.
Will it happen to your beach? Probably not, and while you also probably won't win lotto either, someone will. So the question could be "how can you minimise the chance, or even eliminate the possibility of it happening to your beach?".
I live 50km from the coast, so technically I don't have a beach - this eliminates the possibility of my beach being polluted. If I did have a beach, then oil spills could be prevented by only allowing sailing ships to transport goods, which doesn't sound very practical, or by requiring all heavy goods to be transported by land, which also sounds impractical, especially for exporting overseas.
I expect the answer lies somewhere along the lines of increased requirements for insurance, equipment specifications, training and experience of crews and clear lines of responsibility. And of course, not drilling for oil in places where the oil could spill to your beach if equipment failed. But only the foolish and avaricious would consider doing such a thing.
"only the foolish and avaricious would consider doing such a thing"
How fortunate we are then, AC, to be a country free of such dangerous fools!
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